to foster care and Medicaid, and uses an executive order to expand qualifying conditions for medical marijuana.

Some new state laws are under court challenge, including one that would throw out a school board chairman.

[MUSIC] Data centers soar into the spotlight in discussions with opposition and questions growing, and a new report saying it could be okay.

A school district gets a $27 million settlement with social media companies.

[MUSIC] A very pleasant weather start for June and comment is next on KET.

Good evening.

I'm Bill Bryant and we welcome you to comment on Kentucky.

A look back at and some analysis of the week's news in the Commonwealth and the guests on our panel of working Kentucky journalists tonight are Tessa Duvall, politics and public affairs editor for the Lexington Herald-Leader, Lucas Aulbach chief politics reporter for the Courier-Journal, and Liam Niemeyer, reporter for the Kentucky Lantern.

Also tonight, Governor Beshear endorses Charles Booker in the U.S.

Senate race and former state candidate, Senate candidate, U.S.

Senate candidate Nate Morris, nominated for an ambassadorship.

So we have a lot to discuss tonight.

And let's start with the cuts announced by the governor this week.

Tessa, that he blames on the legislature.

This will apparently impact several areas overseen by the the cabinet for Health and Family Services.

>> That's right.

Programs that can expect cuts, Medicaid, foster care, temporary assistance for needy families.

Things, things of that nature.

And there's a lot of finger pointing going around about who shares responsibility for this in Frankfort, the governor says the state legislature underfunded what was needed to keep these programs operational at the levels that they needed to be, and called this budgeting decision shortsighted.

On the flip side, you have Speaker Osborne, who has blasted Beshear's announcement, which came out yesterday, saying that this was a cruel and unnecessary blow to these families and impacted individuals and said that, you know, the governor's priorities are out of whack.

We've we've given them flexibility.

And this is this is showing us where his priorities are.

>> And I mean, during this most recent budget session, Representative Jason Petrie, the chair of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, emphasized repeatedly throughout the budget process that that there would have to be, you know, cuts to the base as in looking, you know, right sizing, downsizing, the size of state government of what they viewed was just, you know, increasing escalating spending by the Beshear administration.

You know, like Tessa mentioned, they they say that Beshear administration has the flexibility to move around funding, you know, prioritize some programs over over others, you know, like, say, the millions for meals for seniors last year, which Beshear allocated, you know, roughly $9 million for that by moving around funding.

But, you know, again, Beshear has emphasized that because of what he says is chronic underfunding of state government, that they've had to make the cuts.

>> And this is a discussions going on here ahead of the budget going in force.

I mean, this is already a controversial situation.

You mentioned the senior meals programs last year.

That became quite a heated issue in the middle of the summer.

>> Yeah, we almost had a special session about it a year ago or less than that.

So, you know, it's we just got through a budget session and here we are already butting heads.

>> So we're going to certainly watch on that as those cuts apparently go forth.

15 new qualifying conditions were added to Kentucky's medical marijuana law.

And that came as an executive order from Governor Beshear, who said the law needed more clarity.

>> So we want to make this more clear and we want to help more people.

The Team Kentucky Medical Cannabis Work Group, the Kentucky Board of Physicians and Advisors, and the Office of Medical Cannabis have all asked the General Assembly not to fundamentally change, but just to clarify what's already in that law.

Unfortunately, they've refused to act.

Too much is at risk to just stand by and let the law's lack of clarity leave Kentuckians without relief.

>> Luke is about to.

23,000 Kentuckians already have a medical marijuana card.

The governor there is saying that this clarifies who is eligible.

>> Yeah.

And speaking of disagreements between the governor's office and the legislature, here we go again.

Yeah.

The he called on the Office of Medical Cannabis to issue an emergency regulation, clarifying maybe some confusion about what conditions are and aren't covered.

This has only been in place for about a year and a half.

So, you know, 16 dispensaries around the state, 23,000 or so people like you said.

So I think there's still some confusion that they just kind of wanted to iron out.

>> Governor obviously believes that the medical marijuana program is successful.

>> And this isn't the first time that we've seen him sort of take matters into his own hand with an executive order.

If you'll recall, before you could actually purchase medical marijuana products in the state, he issued an executive order that would allow people to essentially bring it back from from other states.

So, you know, as Lucas said, there's been a lot of blame going back and forth on who's, you know, acting quickly enough or not or making the right decisions for these patients.

But, you know, this is this is certainly not unprecedented for the governor to do this, anything like this through executive order.

>> All right.

Well, data centers have jumped into the spotlight in Kentucky.

There was strong opposition at some meetings in northeastern Kentucky this week.

In fact, Liam reported yelling and booing at one of those meetings from residents who packed in and many residents raised issues.

>> We don't trust these people, and what they did was just wrong.

They need to.

Our community should be able to to know about this and make decisions.

They made decisions without us.

That's not what we elected them to do.

They didn't answer the question.

They didn't know.

They don't know the environmental impact that this is going to cause.

There's not even been any studies done.

>> An internet search for this information returned the following result.

That information has not yet been disclosed.

So if the Muskie Center development has been so carefully planned out, I'm curious as to why that basic information has not been made available to the public.

>> Liam, a lot of speakers at that meeting and others, and you've reported as many as 30 data centers are under consideration in Kentucky.

This certainly has surged into the headlines, into the conversations, and has mobilized a lot of people, quite obviously, in several areas of the state.

>> Correct?

Yeah, it's, you know, utilities, LG and EKU, the state's largest utility, reporting dozens of data centers in their economic development pipeline.

And we're talking in terms of trying to put it into scale of how much electricity demand that these specifically these large, massive hyperscale data centers use.

The PPL Corporation, the parent company of LG and EKU, reported in an investor meeting that if all the data centers that they have in their pipeline were to turn out, it would use about 12GW of electricity Kentucky in the summer of 2024, used generated about a maximum of around 18GW of electricity.

We're talking massive amounts of electricity here, but but, you know, like at that meeting that was just showcased there in Boyd County, people have wide ranging concerns about water usage to cool computers at these data centers.

The land use of weather data centers are going to be using up rural farmland in some cases, and even in some counties where there hasn't been any sort of data center, developers come forth and unveil a specific project.

You've had some counties pass moratoriums halting data center construction.

>> And the concern on these costs is not that that bills are going to be sent to people that that for the electricity used by the data centers, but that the electric companies might have to do infrastructure improvements, that then they would try to get a rate increase for.

>> That's right.

You're exactly right.

And summarizing it that way.

And a lot of parts of the state, particularly Eastern Kentucky, you see people who are already paying quite a bit more for their utilities.

And so for for those folks, you know, anything that's going to raise already sort of higher than average rates is, is of concern to them and they're speaking out over it.

>> And Liam, there seems to be some distrust here.

There's blistering criticism of these nondisclosure agreements that keep the public in the dark in some cases.

>> Correct.

There was, I believe, David Sparrow from the Boyd County town Hall on the data center proposal out there.

He made some pointed comments regarding these NDAs that have been signed by local officials, local county judge executives.

This criticism regarding NDAs and data centers have stretched to other data center projects, including the one being proposed in Mason County.

Local leaders who signed these NDAs say that it's a part of the economic development projects process.

If they don't sign non-disclosure agreements, which prevent the release of specific information about a project, that these companies won't talk to their communities, they won't even have that discussion.

But, you know, when these projects are unveiled, like in the case out in Boyd County and the company Tera Wolfe, there are people who see it as underhanded as in there's information about the project that's not available, about environmental impacts or, or land use that they want to know about.

That's just not available.

>> They feel like there's a rush in some cases.

Some in Louisville want a data center moratorium until some guidelines can be worked out.

And Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton says she has concerns and questions about how to move forward with data centers.

>> We look at economic development and businesses coming here.

We're always looking at how many jobs can they bring.

And as you probably know, data centers are not job heavy.

And the other thing that I really want is that the utility cost of the data centers, whether it's electricity, water, whatever it is, not fall on the backs of the current ratepayers.

The they need to pay their own way on that.

>> Tessa, how did this creep onto the scene without much attention, it seems.

I mean, it even seems for months there's been discussion.

But there was discussion in the legislature.

The House passed a bill.

It did not make it through the Senate.

And Representative Adam Moore has told Liam, I know that it's like the Wild West out here right now, right?

>> I mean, this is one of those issues that wasn't an issue until suddenly it was.

And it felt like it was everywhere.

And I think part of the reason that we're seeing so much discussion about it and pressure being put on officials at state, local and federal levels is because there's a degree of bipartisan concern, skepticism, straight up opposition to these centers, and you don't see that on a lot of big issues anymore.

So to see people who are, you know, united in their concern over these things, I think it requires that elected officials take notice.

>> Yeah.

Lucas, what what is the political scenario with these data centers?

I mean, it's it's not one party or the other, right?

>> Yeah.

Sort of like Tessa said.

I mean, you'd be hard pressed to find anybody on either side of the aisle who say, yes, I am 100% pro data center.

Put it right there.

You know, it's everybody has concerns about this coming to their community and what it's going to do to their energy prices.

And I think a lot of people are under the impression that AI is here to stay.

Yes, we need to do something about this issue, but where are they go?

How much energy they they eat up?

You know, these are things that cross party lines.

>> Yeah.

But to Liam's point, you know, some local leaders fear they're holding back progress if they don't approve or at least give these companies a good listen.

>> Yeah, that's kind of what Senator Stivers has said before.

He says, look, you know, we don't want to get left behind.

This is an important part of our economy and development for the future.

So, you know, we can't just press pause on everything.

>> And and, you know, the Bowling Green City Council actually voted down a proposed moratorium on on data centers there.

You know, the mayor at the, you know, at the time mentioned that he didn't want to close off potential economic development opportunities.

And, you know, to put this in the national context, technology companies, including Google, they're spending tens of billions of dollars into data center construction in terms of trying to enhance and, and, you know, hone their specific AI models.

And so these, you know, data center proposals, they're likely not going to go away anytime soon.

>> Liam.

There is this report from the Energy Planning and Inventory Commission created recently by the legislature that says essentially everything can be worked out with these data centers.

>> Correct.

It's there's the Energy Planning and Inventory Commission, relatively new state agency created by the GOP controlled legislature.

They put out a new report that essentially argues in broad strokes that both data center investment can happen in Kentucky and ratepayers can be protected.

They compare situations, regulatory situations in Virginia and Ohio, saying that Ohio did make the right moves in terms of protecting ratepayers, while also encouraging investments of of data centers.

But even in a state like Ohio, there's a criticism from consumer advocates over rises in electricity costs as well there.

So it's a very complicated issue.

>> But yeah, well, I'm sure that's not the last.

We'll be discussing data centers.

All right.

Kentucky's cost of gasoline has fallen below the national average, in part because part of the state gasoline tax is suspended under an order from Governor Beshear.

There was discussion of that in an interim meeting in Frankfort this week.

It's saving the average Kentucky driver about $500 a month, but it's costing the state about $25 million a month.

That could be used for road projects.

>> Spectrum News 1 save at the pump we heard for $5.

And then I started thinking about how much a new set of tires cost.

That's a lot of money for the $5 you would maybe save at the pump for the wear and tear that cars are going to see from in your local levels of potholes and different damage that we're going to see.

If roads aren't getting paved.

>> We are already working with an antiquated revenue system for our transportation cabinet, our road funds.

That needs to be updated.

We're not getting the funds we need now.

We don't need another $27 million a month cut from it.

For what?

Really and truly for what?

>> And Lucas, let me correct, it's $5 a month that it would save the consumer supposedly maybe a little more if this additional cut comes in in July.

But some, including the governor, are saying that any savings matters.

But then others say, well, it's, you know, if you're disrupting road improvements and maintenance, you have other problems.

>> Yeah.

Now, thankfully, these gas prices are trending downward a little bit, but like data centers, probably not the last time we're going to talk about this issue.

You know, Beshear said his goal was to save people money.

You know, when they're at the gas pump, it might have been to score political points, depending on who you ask to.

But, you know, is it worth a cup of coffee or a Happy Meal to lose millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars per month to our road fund is the question that these legislators are asking.

>> All right, Liam.

President Trump has approved $700 million for some coal projects.

What will that do?

>> It's going to three specific coal plants, two of them owned by East Kentucky Power, another by Duke Energy.

Kentucky roughly $120 million of that is going to these plants.

And in broad strokes it's you know the Department of Energy says that it's supposed to help.

The reliability and availability of these coal plants moving forward into the future.

There's still some details that need to be worked out with that.

And environmental groups have largely criticized the funding as as well, saying that it's supporting an antiquated form of energy and that, you know, ultimately, Trump administration claims that it's going to lower the cost of electricity prices.

Environmental groups say that's unfounded.

>> All right.

We'll keep watch on that.

And several state laws are under court challenge.

That now includes one that could have removed the chairman of the Fayette County Board of Education, Tesa Tyler Murphy, putting up a fight to try to keep his seat even though the district is rocked with some financial challenges.

>> That's right.

So there was a law that passed during this last legislative session that would remove or prevent Murphy from running for his seat again, because he is a teacher in another county.

So therefore he would be ineligible to run for this office.

He has already filed to run for reelection, and he's also now filed a lawsuit saying that this is unconstitutional.

The governor waded into this a little bit this week, saying that, you know, this is essentially the legislature changing local rules because they don't like how things were playing out.

But as you said, there's been so much scrutiny around Fayette County financials.

So, you know, he has been under scrutiny not just from lawmakers but from members of the Lexington community as well.

>> One of Murphy's opponents said that that invited the legislature's interest in the race.

You know.

>> So, yeah, I mean, Lexington has largely been spared from a lot of these bills we've seen come out of Frankfort in recent sessions where they've sort of meddled with things in Louisville.

We haven't seen that so much in Lexington.

And this is a little bit of a change for that.

>> Governor Beshear himself challenging House Bill ten.

He vetoed it.

It was overridden.

That would give the what the attorney general, the state treasurer, some oversight of contracts late in a governor's term.

>> That's right.

So Beshear has has sued, and his attorneys are saying that this violates the separation of powers between the different branches of government and within the executive branch.

And this is this is part of a trend.

We've also seen this a lot in recent years, where lawmakers are slowly taking little bits and pieces of the governor's power and reassigning them to others within government that are offices that are held currently by Republicans, which aligns with the supermajority in the legislature.

>> Another law under challenge is the one requiring Kentucky State University to transform into a polytechnic institution.

It's a board is already moving in that direction.

But this law, again, is under challenge.

>> That's right.

We're now up to two lawsuits that were filed in May concerning this change, the latest one filed this week.

Students are saying, or the attorney for the students said that the bill threatens to change the institution underneath them while they are still trying to graduate.

So it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

>> All right.

Lucas, a judge has ordered the arrest of former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin.

>> Yeah, it's a long running issue with him and one of his adopted sons who's pushing for retroactive child support.

They he's been held in contempt of court for not enough financial documents that the opposing attorneys say are needed to prepare to go to trial over this.

Bevin has said that this judge is politically motivated and that she's looking for media attention, but it kind of finally came to a head today.

He turned over some, but not all of the documents that they had requested.

And the judge finally said, enough is enough.

>> And what he has said that she wants him arrested, I think is was one of the statements.

>> And he's he's, you know, said that before has appealed to try to get her thrown off of this case.

And she's not recused.

And she argues that, you know, I've been more than fair with you, but I what I cannot do is treat you differently than I would treat someone else in my court.

And, and he filed an emergency motion to try to, you know, get more time right at the last minute.

And she said, you know, if you knew you weren't going to meet the deadline, you know, why file this at the last minute?

And by being choosing to continue to be in contempt of court, you are the person who has locked your cell, essentially.

>> We'll see how that plays out.

In the US Senate race, Governor Beshear endorsed Democrat Charles Booker, the nominee, this week.

Booker expressed his gratitude for that.

Lucas obviously an uphill climb for Booker, but obviously that was one of the boxes I'm sure he wanted to check.

>> Yeah, probably not a shock that our Democratic governor endorsed the Democratic candidate for U.S.

Senate.

But if you're Charles Booker, you know, that's the biggest Democrat in the state.

That's an endorsement you want.

So Booker, you know, he's viewed as more progressive, but they're really in line on a lot of political positions.

So look for Governor Beshear to endorse Zach Dembo next.

I think they have something scheduled for Monday.

>> All right.

There's a hint of an independent candidate also met the 5000 vote threshold to get on the ballot for the Senate.

Christopher Campbell says he'll represent the Kentucky party.

A growing sector of Kentucky voters is independent.

>> Yeah, and I wouldn't necessarily expect him to come out on top in November.

But, you know, independents are growing faster than any other voting bloc in the state.

I think there are a lot of people who are fed up with the polarized political parties, especially younger voters who aren't necessarily attached to one party or the other.

>> We now know that businessman Nate Morris, who left the Republican primary race in the closing weeks, now has been nominated to be ambassador to Colombia.

>> Yes, going to Colombia or has been nominated to go to Colombia.

So, you know, that's a country that's been in the news with the boat strikes over the past year or so.

You know, they are in line or expected to elect a president here this month who's more in line with the white House.

So that could smooth relations a little bit there.

I'll be interested to see whether Senator Rand Paul votes for him in committee and whether Senator Mitch McConnell, who if you've watched the TV in the past year, know they are not Nate and him are not necessarily the best of friends votes for him as well.

>> We'll see.

Breathitt County Schools are set to receive a $27 million settlement with social media companies and Tesla that.

Snapchat and Meta and TikTok and YouTube.

It avoids a trial that was supposed to begin later this month.

The school district said that it was out money for counseling.

Other expenses.

>> Right, centered around student mental health.

So, yes, that $27 million comes from Meta Snapchat, the parent company of YouTube, which is alphabet and TikTok.

And as a part of the settlement, you know, they don't admit to any liability, but they, you know, they paid out and they are avoiding a trial as a result.

>> Liam, you reported on a 16 page report about punitive disconnection policies in the state where water utilities are cutting off people who may owe as little as $50.

>> The report comes from the Appalachian Citizens Law Center in Letcher County.

And yeah, it's the report found, analyzing data from the Kentucky Public Service Commission that, you know, a bunch of utilities have made disconnections when people have owed very little debt, drinking water, utilities and and it also analyzed other policies that, you know, utility policies they viewed as problematic, such as reconnection fees.

In one case, one utility charges a reconnection fee to reconnect your drinking water upwards or up to $125.

>> Tessa, the former head of addiction recovery care centers, was indicted on federal charges this week.

At one point, at least, that was the the largest recovery company in the state.

Right?

>> It was.

And it's been under scrutiny by the FBI for a couple of years now.

And as that has progressed, we've seen more facilities, close clients who've had to leave, employees who have been let go.

And so this isn't related to the Medicaid fraud investigation that has been going on.

It has to do with some tax tax credits.

But yes, he he has been indicted in federal court.

And so it will be very interesting to see what comes next with this ongoing saga.

>> You all come from Louisville.

How is that I-65 closure going over there?

>> I turn my commute home from 15 minutes to 35.

So but.

>> I mean, we hear that what tractor trailers are going right through neighborhoods?

>> Yeah.

The the infamous can opener underpass in Louisville.

How many has it been?

11 trucks.

I think.

>> It's it's at least over ten.

There's there's a running tally on social media somewhere of the number of trucks.

And for people that don't know the can opener, it it's, I guess, a bridge underpass where trucks just get eaten up if they try to go underneath it.

And it's with the detours, it's it's happening.

>> Seven weeks to go or so or so.

>> But who's counting?

>> But who's counting?

Not me.

>> Oh, well, I-75, it was last year between Lexington and Richmond.

That was a big headache.

But you have to do it in the summertime.

The funeral for former state Representative Charlie Hoffman was Friday in Georgetown.

Hoffman, a Democrat, served in local government and represented the 62nd district in the state House.

He served from 1997 to 2011, some of the time, his majority caucus chair.

When Democrats had a supermajority 66 seats in the House.

Hoffman also served in local government there.

In Scott County.

Charlie Hoffman was 70 years old.

That's common on Kentucky.

We thank you for joining us and have a good week ahead.

>> Cabinet.

But I thought I would.

Nelson.

Frankfort.

No, no, no, you know, I'll tell you that the the.

The.

Yeah, yeah.

But.